Hit international online choir, Choir of the Earth, is inviting absolutely everybody worldwide to take part in a free project to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
To mark 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne, Choir of the Earth has launched a global project to learn, sing and record a new arrangement of the national anthem of the United Kingdom, God Save The Queen, which it will then present to Her Majesty.
The Choir’s Founder, Mark Strachan BEM, provides more detail:
In honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Choir of the Earth will learn, record and present to Her Majesty a new arrangement of God Save The Queen composed by Ralph Allwood MBE, with a new verse written by our own Choir of the Earth poet.
Absolutely everybody is very welcome to join this exciting project! It is free for everyone right across the world and you do not need to have any singing experience. It is open to everyone!
More than 1,200 people have already signed up and we are on track to make this the largest group ever to sing for The Queen in this way! We would love this to be the largest tribute ever to Her Majesty, so please consider joining and bringing all your family and friends with you. There is no limit to the number of people in this choir.
We shall present our recording to Her Majesty on Wednesday 1 June 2022 as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and premiere it to the public online the following day.
Choir of the Earth’s God Save The Queen project promises to be one of the largest Platinum Jubilee projects, with more than 1,000 people signing up within the first 48 hours alone. The Choir are excited to welcome many more singers to join them, as one chorister explains:
It’s really exciting to have the opportunity to take part in the Jubilee celebrations in a way that includes everybody, no matter where you live, what age you are, or even whether or not you think you can sing! You don’t even have to leave your living room and you can still be part of something really special.
I would encourage everybody to sign up for this brilliant project. Everyone at Choir of the Earth is so welcoming and the rehearsals are such fun. When I joined, I was nervous about recording my voice, but honestly, even the recording process is really easy. Just go for it and come and sing with us – after all, how many chances in life do you get to sing for The Queen, especially on an historic event like this?
The new arrangement of God Save The Queen to be sung by the Choir was composed by Ralph Allwood MBE, who will also lead the online rehearsals to teach it, live from his London home. Choir of the Earth will be the first to record this new arrangement.
The Choir will sing three verses, the third of which has been written by Choir of the Earth’s own resident poet, Alexandra Brooke. The new verse reflects on Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne and thanks her for her dedicated service to the public during these years.
The choir will be accompanied by the organ at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle – The Queen’s private chapel – and played by Luke Bond, the Assistant Director of Music there.
Those who register to take part in the project will be invited to a series of free online sessions with Ralph to learn the music, which will run from Tuesday 15 – Sunday 20 March. For those who cannot attend the live sessions, these are also recorded for participants to watch at a time that best suits them. Learning tracks are also provided, with each voice part emphasised, to help singers learn and practise between rehearsals.
Following the final session, Ralph will invite everyone to record their voices at home. No special equipment is required – participants are encouraged to use the voice recording facility on their mobile phones and full instructions will be given.
Choir of the Earth’s professional sound engineers will then mix all of the submissions together in the recording studio to create the final choir, which will be presented to Her Majesty’s Private Secretary on Wednesday 1 June, before being premiered publicly via YouTube on Thursday 2 June.
This recording will be presented to Her Majesty almost exactly one year on from the Choir’s tribute to her late husband Prince Philip, when more than 1,500 people worldwide joined together to sing his favourite hymn, Eternal Father, Strong To Save, to mark what would have been his 100th birthday. This recording, also directed by Ralph Allwood MBE and presented to The Queen, is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Tf4cE-iJY.
Further information about this wonderful project and how to take part is available on Choir of the Earth’s website at https://choiroftheearth.com/god-save-the-queen.
I regard Dominica’s national anthem – which speaks of love of country – as one of the best, and the United Kingdom’s national anthem – which elates personage – as one of the worst.
It should have been abolished years ago rather than being perpetuated with this embarrassing initiative.
I wonder when will the Jews be inviting us to throw a birthday party for Hitler who would have been probably 110 this year, and he only murdered 6 mil of them compared to 100mil +. Shish smdh
ADMIN: Hitler openly promoted genocide and directly orchestrated the killing of millions of civilians – not just jews and not including people killed in combat by German soldiers.
How is this comparable to Queen Elizabeth and how did you determine the 100 million figure?
Even when we are finally free from colonial control we act like the volunteering slave. We still keep our oppressor in high esteem. Sad
Well said my brother, I was just listening to a brother from India making this statement about how they claim to help the underprivileged country by assisting them with money. but guess where these monies come from, the countries that the that they have gathered all their wealth from. Yes, from Africa India, and all the other places that were robbed of their wealth.
Can’t agree with you more. The United Kingdom stubbornly refuses to compensate us for the enslavement and forced labour of our ancestors and the unthinkable atrocities that were committed against them.
All we desire from Queen Elizabeth is reparatory justice. We , the descendants, do not exist to entertain the former oppressors of our forebears.
Are you guys for real. A family who owned black people. Tell Elizabeth to go pack her self some place quiet live out her ole age. I will celebrate the maroon leaders of the Caribbean before i consider and action in celebration of any imperialist and race that feel superior to other human beings. We all equal in the eyes of God so if her children not enough to sing to her then to bad. Time to start celebrating nelson Mandela, shaka Zulu, Martin Luther king Jr, and all those who fight for equality of mankind.
I certainly agree with your last sentence. It’s mind-bogglingly insane that our people have this penchant to idolize our oppressors but demonize and repudiate the heroes of our race.
Queen Elizabeth will never utter a word about reparation for the horrendous injustices and cruelties that the Royal Family did to our forebears. When will we learn?